If you’ve been on Twitter recently (and no, I will not be calling it X), you’ve witnessed the turmoil caused by everyone’s favorite big bird, Big Bird, now being everyone’s favorite small bird. Big Bird, a native of Sesame Street, New York City, posted on January 24 asking for help to make him big Big Bird again.
Some eagle-eyed users became hawkish about the lack of media coverage, bird-calling out anti-Sesame Street bias in reporting. Even Bert and Ernie got involved in the online drama!
The wild Big Bird chase has led our feathered friend to new heights, including visiting an ant and his friend Baby Bear (or, Big Bear?). Even without any attention from the news, this little birdie continued to post about his adventures being the world’s smallest bird:
He’s even being ignored by his lifelong friend, Snuffleupagus, who walked right past him, acting like he didn’t exist (we’ve all been there, Big Bird!). Even with this horrible betrayal, nothing has stopped Big Bird from maintaining that optimism we all know and love.
This Big Bird quandary has opened up our eyes to disparities in government funding. At a time when the United States is spending $857 billion on our military (compared to the $465 million the federal government allocates to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting), we must be doing more to protect America’s most influential bird. Are we a nation of warmongers or large warblers?
At the federal level, we should be calling our congressional representatives to encourage more funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS. At a state level, we must encourage New York Governor Kathy Hochul to authorize the National Guard to investigate this fowl foul play.
Big Bird has repeatedly asked for our help in bringing more attention to his little-Big Bird problem, and without “downsizing” the impact this has on little birds everywhere, I’m going to provide some resources on how to support Big Bird in these small-scale times.
- Use the #HelpBigBird tag to get it trending! Big Bird has specifically asked us to continue to spread the word about the growing problem of his shrunken size!
- Call your representative! You can find your Congressional representative or U.S. Senator, along with office phone numbers or constituent services email addresses.
- Maintain your hope: if Big Bird is still able to maintain optimism even though he is now a fleeting feathered friend, then we all must take a feather from his cap – or wing? – and continue on. A little bird in the hand is worth two in the bush!
All of this to say, finding Big Bird is not for the birds!
Editor’s Note: Since the writing of this article, thankfully the bird formerly known as Little Big Bird has been made big again. However, due to the stellar quality of reporting on this issue, we have decided to move forward with publishing this piece.
